now run into trouble. the orca capsized. it was brought to washington state to address the growing sea lion problem. much more on our stories at our website, aljazeera.com. hatchers steal the personal information of 4 million federal employees and the u.s. blames china. 280,000 jobs created last month. and saddam hussein's former right-hand man has died in jail.

♪ this is is al jazeera america live from new york city. i'm randall pinkston. china is denying allegations that it was involved in the hacking of u.s. government computers computers. officials say hackers stole the personal information of at least 4 million workers in unwith of the largest data breaches in history. mike viqueira is live for us in washington. mike what are officials saying about how this breach happened? >> it's interesting because the united states government has spent billions of dollars over the course of the last several years to beef up its cyber security programs across the federal government. and what had happened is that the office of personnel management the opm, essentially the human resources defendant was upgrading its cyber security. and it was in april that it

discovered a potential breach and they discover it goes back to at least late last year they are targeting december. late yesterday this news broke. some 4 million individuals within the federal government employed now, and people who were employed with the federal government are potential victims of this breach. for the time being they are advising the individuals to keep a close eye on their financial transactions. they are also offering a free insurance program to protect against identity theft, randall. >> so why do investigators think that china is involved? and how is china responding? >> the u.s. government has been the subject of attacks before and there is one attack in particular that people are pointing fingers to and that's a giant insurance company. you may remember last year

allegations that china was behind that cyber attack. they see parallels between the two attacks. the chinese are scoffing at the claims. nevertheless reports across the u.s. media today attributing to senior administration officials that they do believe that some chee niece entity, whether it was an official entity or chinese hackers are responsible for this attack. >> mike viqueira in washington. thank you very much. now joining me also in washington is a fellow at foreign policies china channel

tea leaf nation. what can you tell us about the reaction in china to this allegation? >> thank you for having me randall. as was just mentioned the chinese ministry of foreign affairs has certainly not acknowledged this attack. this is standard. they -- the chinese government will often repeat the claim that china is a victim of cyber attacks with the implication that it would not, therefore, commit those attacks against other countries, but what we see from non-official sources, such as web commentators is -- such as the well-known chinese web entrepreneur he said the chinese government does not have the capability of making this attack. however, in china's online spaces where it's a little bit more possible to get a sense of what people on the ground are saying there, many people do

feel a sense of pride that the chinese government may in fact be capable of this kind of large-scale attack. and what we have seen -- >> let me interrupt you there. a sense of pride that they would hack into the u.s. government's personnel files. why pride? >> well that's because in the past china has seen itself as a victim of foreign aggression and, you know, far from their historical position as a powerful count friday-- country, that feeling remains very strong. so the idea and the sense that china has been beefing up its own ability to commit cyber hacks, whether or not that is the case gives many people a sense that china is, you know pushing back against what it sees as a foreign bully. and people feel pride about that. >> so there is this question as to whether it may be coming from

official hackers with the government, or private hackers. here is my question in china, which as we know does a lot of government control of what people can and cannot do is it conceivable that a hack of this magnitude could occur through the auspices of someone with their laptop? >> that's difficult to say. it is maybe the largest attack against the u.s. federal government. it seems unlikely that could come from an unofficial source. but there is a particular school which is private, and that is at least known online as being a source for training hackers that may or may not be affiliated with the government but it is hard to say. >> do you think china is concerned about a possible

counter u.s. hacker attack? >> they may not be concerned about a direct counterattack, but they are certainly concerned about previous u.s. government surveillance or breaches of chinese web security. for example, we heard from the snowden revelations that nsa had in fact been listening in or had breached networks in china. in that has caused a very direct chinese government response. they have now encouraged and even made it law that over the next few years chinese government offices are required to start using domestically made operating systems, and also are discouraged to use such american software products as microsoft. >> bethany thank you for joining us on al jazeera. good news for the economy today. the latest jobs report released

this morning showed brood growth. patricia sabga is here to break it down for us. for one thing, the estimates came in above expectation. >> exactly. and this was a very encouraging jobs report. let's take a look at the numbers. the economy added 280,000 jobs last month, far above what most economists were expecting, and leaps ahead of the previous average. the unemployment ticked up slightly, but more people were participating in the labor force. as for the mix of jobs we added 17,000 construction positions, and 75,000 in leisure and hospitality, that signals those industries feel good about their summer business. mining still a weak spot. and you can chalk that up to the oil firms that have had to cut spending and layoff workers.

labor force participation did tick up slightly so don't read too much into that slight bump up if you will in the unemployment rate but the other thing we'll take a close look at here is average hourly wages. let's take a look at those numbers and pull those up. average hourly wages jumped $0.08 to $24.96 an hour. that's up 2.3% year-over-year. that's not as high as the fed chair would like to see, but randall it is certainly moving in the right direction. >> is the bump being enjoyed at all levels? >> that is certainly the question. earlier we spoke with a labor economist, and she reminded us there are still many earning below that average. >> the people picking up wage gains are people in the top 20% of the population.

so it is great to see the wage it's wonderful to see that but we have people that are still fighting for $15 an hour. we have people who are still earning the minimum wage which has not been raised in nearly a decade. >> we also have to keep in mind that wages have been largely stagnant for decades, and medium household incomes are still below what they were before the recession. so we want to see people getting more money in their paychecks, spending money, and growing the economy. >> but the trend is moving in the right direction. >> absolutely. >> thank you. fbi agents have raided the home of aaron shock amid allegations that he misused funds. the republican is being investigated by the department of justice over allegations that he used federal campaign funds for his own personal needs. shock resigned from office in march. opec is keeping oil

production high despite crashing prices. the members agreed to continue pumped 30 million barrels a day. in that decision could send prices even lower. mohammed is at neating in austria. >> reporter: there was no suspension at the beginning of the day and no surprise at the end of the day. they will keep production the same. in the press conference it was announced that what had been decided on was for the benefit of all member nations. but there has been tension in the past few days especially for countries like venezuela who's countries have really taken a hit because of the lowered oil prices. other countries had wanted to see a change in the output level, but that didn't happen and opec ministers insisted that

was for the best. that decision being driven largely by gulf countries, like saudi arabia qatar, and the uae. another question was the iran question. iran has said they are ready to start getting their oil out there in the marketplace again, but that will depend on if sanctions are actually lifted and that hijs on what happens in the nuclear deliberations that are still ongoing. several of the men charged with trying to kill pakistani activist mall la la yousafzai have been acquitted. eight of the ten men who were sentenced to long-term jail terms back in april have actually been cleared of all charges. it is not clear if those acquit have had been released. one of saddam hussein's top deputies died in prison he was 79 years old and reportedly had a heart attack.

he had been in jail for years. he has been sentenced to death for his role in a crackdown on shias. imran khan is in baghdad. >> reporter: he was convicted for a b in of charges, including aiding a lot of merchants, he was a very hated member of the regime and one of the more public members of the regime. his son gave a statement saying he was very angry that the media were informed before the family were. but i have been watching the media here and it has almost been ignored. there is no eulogy no day of mourning he is not that kind of figure here in iraq. he is seen as an important historical figure. he was fluent in english, he was a christian, he was very public when it came to his statements. he regular -- negotiated the

iran/iraq war end. he is very associated with the previous regime and his legacy here in iraq will be swept under the carpet. people simply don't want to talk about him. but he is a very important figure, because he was one of the people that really tried to stop the american occupation and invasion of iraq. and he said the only reason the americans want to invade is because of israel and oil. >> imran khan in baghdad. the outbreak of mers in south korea has now reached a u.s. air base. a south korean airman tested positive. he is now at a hospital off of the base. so far the airman is not showing any symptoms. 100 of his coworkers are asked to stay at home to prevent any possibility of the illness spreading. south korean health

officials say they have released one patient who had been in the hospital with mers. the death toll is now four. doctors are worried more may become infected. fears of a serial shooter in colorado. why police think a single gunman is targeting residents.

cleanup underway in colorado today after a major storm swept through last night. seven tornados touched down in different parts of the state, destroying or damaging dozens of homes. more severe weather is expected today. also in colorado police are investigating a possible serial shooter. a man was shot dead in loveland under suspicious circumstances. now investigators are trying to figure out if that murder is connected to two other shootings nearby. >> reporter: loveland colorado is a quiet town and three

shooting in six weeks within 15 miles of each other is quite unusual. law enforcement is now working around the clock. >> there is a male on he sidewalk not breathing, and bleeding uncontrollableably. >> reporter: the died on that sidewalk. police say a gunshot killed him, and they fear it was fired by someone who was done this before. >> we don't know if this is related to the other shootings, and we don't know if there is somebody or somebodies that is inflicting these crimes in the community, and so it -- it -- there is a tendency for year. >> the fear is there is a serial shooter involved. on april 22nd, a 20 year old survived being shot in the neck as she drove along interstate 25.

>> you don't really think that something like that would happen to you just driving home from work. >> reporter: and on may 18th six miles from where she was shot 47 year old was shot twice and killed while riding his bike. police have reefed out to county sheriffs and the fbi for help in finding out if the latest shooting is also related. >> there are enough likenesses to this case that we as an agency immediately reached out to the task force. >> investigators are going to look at ballistics for matches, the sale of weapons, surveillance cameras in and around the shootings, and if there's any sort of association in the background of the three victims. >> reporter: the possibility that a killer is on the loose has people on edge. >> i'm really worried and scared to go around even in the daytime. >> i got, you know, two -- two children and a wife and i don't

want to be outside playing with my kids or riding bikes or something down the sidewalk and somebody come by and shoot me or them. >> reporter: loveland's police chief is urging the community to channel its fear into vigilant action. the fbi is offering a $10,000 reward for information. a friend of boston marathon bomber has been sentenced for his role in the attack. he will get 3.5 years in prison. he was found guilty of trying to throw away tsarnaev's backpack has police were searching for evidence. texas is facing a new wave of migrants crossing the mexican border on foot. it's illegal and the journey can be deadly. police found 26 sets of human remains in just the past month.

>> reporter: this highway is the only artery north out of the border region in the rio grand valley. and you have to have papers to get past the check point. that's why human smugglers will drop off the immigrants just south, and force them to walk into this brush through this kind of terrain, and they walk for two to three days make a wide circle and end up on the other side. the sheriff's department continues to find human remains. so far this year 27 bodies have been recover, up from 25 this time last year. that's in spite of border patrols report of a 30% drop in apprehensions. migrants may now be taking greater risks to avoid the stepped up enforcement. risks that expose them to more danger.

earlier we saw three young men walking along the highway with their empty water bottles. they begged us for water. coming up later tonight hear more of their story, what brought them to this point, what was the desperation pushing them to make this dangerous risk. heidi zhou castro, al jazeera, brooks county texas. you can watch the full report from texas tonight at 8:00 p.m. a growing investigation into a huge oil spill off of southern california, why the state's attorney general could bring charges against the people responsible.

officials are considering charge charges for those responsible for the oil spill in california. the impact of the spill could last for decades. as jennifer london explains newly released documents raise questions over whether it could have been prevented. >> reporter: the cleanup from

last month's oil spill is time consuming and tedious, on shore and at sea. we have been given special access to be on the beach so we could see the cleanup operations firsthand, and we are required to wear this safety equipment, because this remains an active hazmat zone. you see signs of the spill everywhere as workers painstakingly chip away oil from each and every one of these rocks. it's also a race to save marine life. more than 90 animals have been rescued. nearly 200 have been found dead. kristen is with the non-profit organization. >> many animals will actually sink into the sea, never to be recovered. >> reporter: as excavation work continues, new le released

documents reveal pipeline operateor plains all american inspected the pipe two weeks before it failed. the findings showed extensive core row shun and an environmental impact report conducted in the '80s before the pipeline was built. >> this document predicts the probability of -- of an oil spill. >> reporter: what are the predictions exactly? >> there's the probability of an oil spill greater than 9.5 barrels, which is roughly 400 gallons of barrel. .2 spills a year so a 28% probability of an oil spill each year and that only increases as the age of the pipeline increases. >> reporter: plains all american denied our request for an

interview. although it is not uncome mom fon environmental impact studies to predict spills this one was especially troubling. >> it is home to numerous endangerous species. it hosts the largest con congregation of blue whales in the world. >> a lot of us took this very personally. and we were saddened and angry. >> reporter: janet wolf questions whether enough was done immediately after the spill was discovered. >> we had our firefighters who wanted to help. and it felt like there was a pushback. and i understand that there were health and safety issues but the response -- it felt like the oil was -- was coming and no one was doing anything. that's how it felt. >> reporter: and there is also the question of whether the

spill could have been prevented if the pipeline had an automatic shutoff valve. >> it's a risk analysis to determine if they need valve, and where to put them. >> reporter: andrew is an independent pipeline safety consultant, he says depending on the pipeline automatic shutoff valves can sometimes do more harm than good. >> they are another point of weakness. so everywhere there's a pipeline that is discontinuous, that's another point where you can have a leak. liquid is not compressible therefore, if a valve shuts quickly, you create a water hammer effect. >> what we do know is that oil spills happen all over california, and all over the

country every year and the only way to truly prevent an oil spill from happening is to stop drilling for oil. >> reporter: the two california state beaches most sullied by the spill remain closed for at least another two weeks as the scraping scooping and shovelling continue. jennifer london al jazeera, california. american pharaoh has a chance to break the triple crown brings. belmont is named the grave yard of champions. no horse has won that leg after winning the other two legs since affirmed did it in 1978. so good luck american pharaoh, thanks for watching.

for the latest go to our website at aljazeera.com. one of saddam hussein's most loyal ministers tarik aziz dies in prison at the age of 79. hello there, i'm felicity barr and this is al jazeera live from london. an agreement to keep oil production at the same rate despite calls from the industry to push prices higher. greece's prime minister rejects international reform plans calling them absurd. but says a debt-repayment deal is closer than